Marc Guéhi has always been a man of few words. “Some recents,” he posted this week on Instagram with a selection of photos.
One showed him celebrating during Crystal Palace’s win at West Ham last week that maintained their unbeaten start, and there was another of Guéhi applauding England’s fans in Serbia after the 5-0 victory that brought his first international goal. The 25-year-old was then pictured smiling in a restaurant holding a pair of chopsticks and he also posted the cover of Jim Murphy’s bestseller Inner Excellence – described by its author as an “instruction manual that will teach you how to perform under pressure and live the best possible life”.
But most intriguing was the passage he posted from Proverbs 23:18 which reads: “Surely there is a future and your hope will not be cut off.” Almost four weeks on from a dramatic transfer deadline day when Palace’s chair, Steve Parish, pulled the plug on Guéhi’s move to Liverpool at the last minute, there has been no mention of what happened from the player himself other than in a post-match interview with ITV in Belgrade. “It’s been great,” he said with a smile when asked how the previous eight days had been.
On Saturday at Selhurst Park, Guéhi will face the club he had hoped to join. He showed he had been able to put the failed transfer behind him with two impressive performances for England that appeared to nail down his spot under Thomas Tuchel after he was surprisingly named on the bench for the head coach’s first game against Albania in March. “He handles it with respect and with a brilliant attitude,” Tuchel said.
Oliver Glasner has also wanted to move on from the episode that ended with Palace’s manager keeping hold of his captain after they failed to find an adequate replacement, although he did admit Guéhi had been disappointed not to join Liverpool. “Sometimes my children would like to have something,” he said. “Then you have to say: ‘Sorry, not this time.’ They’re disappointed, but the next day, it’s gone.”
It speaks volumes for Guéhi’s professionalism that he has picked up where he left off at Palace having already mentally prepared to become a Liverpool player. The first part of his medical had been completed in London on deadline day and a private jet was standing by to take him to Merseyside. Guéhi is understood to have been extremely unhappy and surprised when Parish – under pressure from Glasner – decided not to sanction the £35m move, and Palace stand to lose him for free next summer when his contract expires. Yet there has been no sign of discontent and his performances have underlined the player’s quality.
A back three where he excels on the left alongside the central axis, Maxence Lacroix, and Chris Richards has recorded 11 clean sheets in the 20 Premier League games they have played together. Palace have the joint-best defensive record in the Premier League this season, having conceded twice so far, and have not been beaten in 17 matches since a 5-0 defeat at Newcastle in April.
Despite being only 6ft tall, Guéhi is also a considerable threat at set pieces for Palace, who scored 11 league goals from corners last season, behind only Arsenal. Liverpool, beaten by Glasner’s side on penalties in the Community Shield last month when Guéhi was forced off with cramp in stoppage time, are the division’s only other unbeaten side in the division, and will surely have taken note before they renew acquaintances with the FA Cup winners.
The serious knee injury sustained by Liverpool’s Giovanni Leoni in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Southampton has heightened concerns over a lack of defensive cover in Slot’s squad.
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Liverpool have been linked with Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano but may make a new attempt to sign Guéhi from Palace in January, when he will have entered the final six months of his contract and will be permitted to sign a pre-contract agreement with overseas clubs. Otherwise Liverpool have to wait until the summer when they are likely to find themselves up against some of Europe’s biggest hitters, including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Some reports this week suggested that Guéhi favours a summer move to Madrid, who are also closely monitoring his Palace and England teammate Adam Wharton. Madrid’s longstanding interest in Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté, who has so far rejected Liverpool’s attempts to get him to extend a contract that, like Upamecano’s, ends in the summer, potentially provides another layer of complication over Guéhi’s future.
Not that the speculation will affect his performances. Guéhi, who moved to London from Ivory Coast with his family at the age of one, still lives at home with his three younger sisters and regularly attends services at his father’s church in Grove Park, south-east London, with Lacroix and other members of Palace’s first-team squad. “Until recently, he didn’t even have social media, maybe he’s got one now just to interact with fans,” his father, John, who is known as Papa Guéhi, told the Sun this month. “He never thought: ‘If I force a move, Palace will let me go.’ No. He was focused and stayed professional and he always will.”
